The Black Hawk College's Intercollegiate Horse Show Association Team, coached by Donna Irvin and Drew Cotton, recently finished its regular season by winning the Zone 7, Region 5 Team Championship held this year at the East Campus. In 16 years of competition, this is the 10th time that BHC has brought home the championship.

"We were High Point Team this season eight out of nine meets. That qualifies Black Hawk College for the team competition at semi-finals," said coach Donna Irvin.

"Black Hawk College had 25 of the 39 Regional Qualifiers (a record for us by nine) for the Zone 7 Region 5 Championships, as well as having the High Point Open Rider, Alissa Frederick of Chicago, Ill. The next college to qualify a significant number was Truman State with 6. Another amazing result is that our students won every division and earned 10 out of 11 spots to compete at Semi-Finals in Pomona, Calif."

As region champions, BHC will also send a group to compete in the team competition portion of this show. At the semi-final show the individuals and team will be competing to qualify for the IHSA National show later this spring.

The following is a list of Region Champions and Reserve Champions:

Region Champion Team, Black Hawk College

Reserve Champion Team, Northeastern Oklahoma

Below is a list of the Individual Champions and Reserve Champions:

Champion High Point Rider for the Region - Alissa Frederick of Chicago, Ill. (will compete at Nationals in this Division!)

Region Champion Reining – Josh Clevenger of Mt. Olive, Ill.

Reserve Champion Reining - Carrie Somerville of Onslow, Iowa

Region Champion Open - Carrie Somerville

Reserve Region Champion Open - Heather Burroughs of Muscatine, Iowa

Region Champion Advanced - Crystal Drager of Brussels, Wis.

Region Champion Novice - Carmen Conrad of Howards Grove, Wis.

Region Champion Intermediate - Kaitlyn Neilson of Belvidere, Ill.

Reserve Region Champion Intermediate - Josh Murphy of Hannibal, Mo.

Region Champion Beginner - Christie Darnall of Geneva, Ill.

Reserve Region Champion Beginner - Ali Johannsen of Rock Falls, Ill.

Regional Champion, Alumni - Tillie Brotherton of Central Point, Ore.

Additional results are as follows:

Reining

3rd – Alissa Frederick

Open

3rd – Josh Clevenger

4th – Alissa Frederick

6th - Austin Scholl, Menoken, N.D.

7th – Austin Pappin of Prole, Iowa

Novice

6th – Katie Bernard of Leland, Ill.

Intermediate

3rd – Tori Tobey of Astoria, Ore.

4th – Sarah Simpson of Dennison, Ill.

5th – Jordan Goodwin of Wanatah, Ind.

7th – Abbie McCabe of Monticello, Ill.

8th – Katie Grimm of Bettendorf, Iowa

Other Intermediate Qualifiers included Marina Cadle of W. Lafayette, Ind. and Jayme Warner of Verona, Wis.

Beginner

4th – Brittany Hagemann of Stillman Valley, Ill.

"IHSA continues to be a growing sport. In our region alone this year, there were 11 different colleges represented and a record 214 entries at the November shows hosted by Black Hawk College. The unique part of the sport is that students of all ability levels can be competitive in their respective divisions and that the host colleges provide all of the horses and equipment for the events.

"Please join us in congratulating the entire Horse Show Team and wishing them continued success in post season competition. Thank you to everyone who has directly or indirectly supported this effort. It is truly a shared success," said Irvin.